Tuesday, 5 August 2014

Painting in the sun

I'm having a break from writing at the moment, enjoying the sun, reading and working in the garden. But the other day, the mood came upon me to get my paints out. I wanted to try something colourful and abstract, inspired by a conversation with an artist friend of mine who said that sometimes she just gets her brushes out with no picture in her head, and just sees where it leads.

So I found a decent-sized canvas, 18 by 24 inches, and set to daubing outside in the courtyard - I make no claims to mastery of painting - and this is the result. After a while it seemed like flowers and fruit to me, so I deliberately gave it a recognisable fig and slice of watermelon. Quite pleased, actually.

About Me

I am a British novelist and sometime journalist. I've loved Provence ever since I first visited more years ago than I care to remember.
My husband and I have a crumbling house in the Luberon, and it is the setting and inspiration for my novel The Lantern, published by Orion in the UK and HarperCollins in the US.
Apart from books, this blog is for all things inspired by the South of France. The original idea was that by the time The Lantern was published, it would contain an archive of relevant background material and photographs to illustrate the story. The Sea Garden was published in summer 2014, and my new novel 300 Days of Sun is out now.